Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a beautifully written and heartwarming novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. It is a perfect book for anyone who loves books, Japan, or simply a good story about finding your place in the world.

Takako is a flawed but sympathetic protagonist, and her journey of self-discovery is both heartwarming and inspiring. And the setting of the bookstore is simply magical and atmospheric. Yagisawa does a wonderful job of capturing the unique feeling of a used bookstore, with its dusty shelves, creaky floorboards, and the smell of old paper.

Overall, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a delightful and heartwarming novel that I highly recommend.

Set in the district of Jimbocho, Tokyo, the Hay- on-Wye (UK) of Japan, I couldn’t wait to get my teeth into this book. And the thought of living in a bookshop sounded like heaven.
Following a traumatic break up with her partner, Tamoko is saved from despair by her similarly estranged Uncle Satoru. He runs the family owned Morisaki Bookshop and offers Tamoko a rent free room.
Slowly she begins to read seriously and the books save her from despair.
But for me, given the experiences of the characters, the whole is less than the sum of the parts.
The bookshops are fabulous, the Kanda Used Book Festival is wonderful; and so is the visit to the shrine in the mountains. But the style is bland, with little nuance; the characters are flat and there is little exploration or insight into them. Things just happen. Maybe I’m just not familiar enough with Japanese style of characterisation. In which case, I’m sorry.
Expected much more from this ‘international sensation’.

Thank you to Bonnier Books UK and Netgalley for providing a DRC of "Days at the Morisaki Bookshop" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

This hug of a book ticked every box and honestly felt written for me - set in Japan, a love letter to books and bookshops, and completely and utterly cosy. I practically inhaled this, and it has just left me feeling warm, happy, and nostalgic for the year i spent living in Japan.

This is a story of two halves. The first focuses on Takako, a young woman who discovers she is the 'other woman' in her relationship and so, feeling broken hearted and lost takes up the offer of her uncle, Satoru, to live on the second floor of his second hand bookshop to help him out and figure out what she wants to do next.
The second half adds Momoko, her estranged aunt, who returns suddenly into their lives and who Takako is tasked with getting to know more and to try and uncover why she has returned.

I just can't coherently begin to explain why I loved this so much. I have a jumble of feelings about the story, which is just a lovely trip through the lives of our characters, following the seasons changing over a couple of years and how they change with it.

It's also just so classically Japanese. The translation is perfect and portrays in English exactly how people act, think, and live. The setting, whilst being in a suburb of Tokyo (Jimbocho), could have been the town I lived in. I could picture everything and relate to my own experiences over there. When Momoko and Takako visited a shrine in the mountains, I saw the shrines in my prefecture. The coffee shop owner was the owner of a café I used to go to regularly, and Takako herself reminded me so much of the younger teachers I worked with.

This book is also COSY. It is a flowing, beautiful prose following these characters without anything too intense or dramatic, which I wanted and needed. Even the most dramatic scenes - Satoru taking Takako to her ex-boyfriend's house to get him to apologise, for example, is written in a languid, humorous, and easygoing manner.

Can you tell I just loved it?! Overall, if you want a comfort blanket of a book, read this, and if you have an interest in Japan, read this, and if you love books, you really should read this.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a very sweet story and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

Heartwarming and thought-provoking, an ode to the magic of a good bookshop.

This book was beautiful!
It’s a lovely story the ultimately examines lives in some of its varied forms.
The writing was gorgeous and the characters wonderful!
I can’t recommend this enough!
*** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher ***

This is a short but sweet book. Set in and around Tokyo, it is based more on a couple of characters rather than the bookshop as I expected. The main characters, a young woman and her uncle have a strong bond although she was not aware of it for years.

The story begins when her relationship breaks up and she leaves her job before becoming depressed and tells the story of her recovery.

I listened to the audio book and the narrator was perfect for the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC

This book seemed to be everywhere on social media around National Book Shop Day, so that inspired me to want to read it. It’s a short charming read about the joys of quirky little indie book shops, the joy of reading, and the shared love and delight that can be found between the covers of a book.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for a review.

This was just fine. I think it was a cosy read with a lot of deep thinking but it felt like more of the same sort of novels that are out there.

I enjoyed this gentle story about a young girl finding solace in a bookshop after a relationship break up. The characters are brought to life and the quirky bookshop can be visualised. Although sad in parts it has quite an uplifting ending.

The premise of this book meant it could have been a firm favourite, however, I really struggled with it. I’m unsure if it’s the translation but the language and writing style felt very stilted and unnatural. It all felt a bit juvenile to me, the characters were flat and I couldn’t relate to them which meant I couldn’t get invested in the story.
I wasn’t expecting the thriller of the century but I did hope for more than a bland story.
Perhaps it got lost in translation.

This short novel (really a novella) takes me back to Tokyo, where I lived for some years. So it was nice to read about places and people I recognise, but also a little jarring. The translation strays too far into 'Western' expressions, in my opinion, which hides nuances of the story. It comes across as a rather shallow romantic tale of an immature girl. But actually, it is about the main characters discovering themselves outside the mainstream.

The book is a first-person narrative by the young woman Takako that tells the reader what she's experiencing, rather than showing it. Although that seems clunky, it emphasises the gap between truth and Takako's perception. Meanwhile, there are description of people and places that I found very evocative.

This is a rather charming take about the importance of family and the healing power of books.

When Takako's heart is broken, her uncle - whose wife had run away sometime before, offers her a refuge in his bookshop. Initially uninterested in musty old books, she soon picks one of them up and gets lost in the story.. I really liked this first part, but then we hit part two. A few years on and Momoko, (the errant wife) returns. This part feels a bit choppy and doesn't flow as well. I don't know if this is in the original text, or to do with the translation.. I did like the story, but found my attention wandered a bit during the second half due to that lack of flow. It looks as though there will be a follow up book which I will certainly be looking out for..

*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an DRC in exchange for an honest opinion.*

Takao has a shock when her boyfriend announces that he’s marrying someone else. To distance herself, she accepts a job at her uncle’s bookshop, living in the tiny flat above. Gradually, she discovers the healing power of books and a new respect for her uncle. A short book, great for anyone who loves to read.

This is the first book I have read which has been translated from Japanese, it was a lovely story which I really enjoyed. A cosy autumn read that I would most definitely recommend. Enjoy it because I certainly did

A treasure of a book. It made me smile, getting to know relatives and find out your perception of them and yourself is incorrect. Discovering new things through books and people's book choices.
Enjoy I did

"Days at the Morisaki Bookshop" by Satoshi Yagisawa is a heartwarming tale of love and renewal set in the quaint Morisaki Bookshop in Tokyo. When Takako's relationship crumbles, she takes refuge in her uncle Satoru's eccentric, second-hand bookshop. Here, amidst the shelves of books, they discover the healing power of literature and its ability to offer profound life lessons. As summer turns to autumn, the quirky characters, the bookshop's charm, and the wisdom hidden within its pages help both Takako and Satoru mend their hearts and find solace. This beautifully written narrative is a tribute to the comfort and transformation that books can bring during challenging times.

It never ceases to amaze me how brilliantly books such as this are translated. This is the first Japanese translation I have read and it is a very easy read that I finished inside a day. The Japanese background to the tail is not lost in translation and the story it tells us easy to understand. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the char to read and review this book.

A lovely book, a tale of love, new beginnings, and the comfort that can be found between the pages of a good book. It is one of those books that transports you making you forget about real life and full of delightful characters that spring to life. I actually felt like I was there in the story with them ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a quaint, slice of life story that is equally heartwarming and memorable. The premise is quite simple but the storytelling is engaging and I fell in love with the main characters. A quick read for a cosy afternoon!

'Days at the Morisaki Bookshop' is an enjoyable read; an entertaining story of the characters as their lives become intertwined around this little used-book store is heartwarming and gentle. Lyrical and often funny in places, it was a refreshing read.